If you’re cutting one for supposed cost-saving measures it seems unlikely that you’ll be allowed to replace them. I thought Elaine’s role was more valuable than Kramer’s, regardless of who was actually filling it.
I assumed we were just replacing a million-dollar actor with a thousand-dollar actor, which is why I assume a replacement.
Even if we had to eliminate the role entirely with no substitutions, I’m not sure that would change my answer. To me, Elaine’s role is on par with Susan’s.
Kramer, in a second. Irritating, though well-performed, slapstick I can do without. That said, I doubt the series would have lasted so long without him - might have been too sourly misanthropic without the clown.
Kind of harder to cut someone from a four person comedy than Friends or HIMYM. Seinfeld with 25% less of the cast would be pretty different.
But I guess Kramer is probably the least essential. And you could have more Newman to cover at least some of the crazy neighbor role.
I can only pick one?
I couldn’t kill off any of them.
However, to save money I would graft George’s head on to Elaine’s body. Elaine also keeping her own head. Now that’s an odd couple and would have made a great spinoff.
My first choice would be Jerry, but in lieu of him, I pick Elaine. George and Kramer are both what Seinfeld is. If they’re gone, you might as well just start a new show.
Choosing George because he’s a terrible human being would be like killing off Cartman from South Park. You need the jerks!
Kill off George and give the Larry David author insert job to Elaine when gender doesn’t matter and Kramer when it does. I saw a lot of George in the later Elaine, and we don’t need Kramer to win all the time.
The most over the top character in a sitcom is almost always my least favorite.
Therefore, Kramer.
Exactly. 
Can I at least spin the death of Elaine off to a movie, She’s the one I would most like to see as one of the targets in a slasher flick.
Yeah, at the end of the day I think cutting any of them would alter the show’s balance too much. Kramer is my least favorite, but his particular brand of insanity was too often a jump-start for the rest of the “normals.” George and Jerry are uncuttable, Elaine a necessary female foil - I honestly think the show would veer from misanthropy to misogyny without her.
Nah, I’m going to go with any cut would sink the show.
Elaine is far too pretty to die. If you kill Cosmo, you only create too more. So George.
Can I do it like Kenny and kill off Kramer brutally early in every episode?
Kramer, in a heartbeat. I never really liked the character much, he made me laugh far less than the others. If I knew him in real life, after 10 minutes I’d either refuse to talk to him forever, or get into a fistfight with him. He just annoys me.
On the other hand, I also think Elaine could have probably been played by a lot of other actresses, wheras the other 3 actors owned their characters better.
I still picked Kramer though, and I’m sticking to it.
Those of you picking Elaine are so not spongeworthy. It was hard picking between George and Kramer but I decided to go with Kramer. I think the character was meant to be taken in small doses however he ended up Urkel-ing his way in to the main cast and got way too much screen time and was just too annoying. Kramer is outta there!
I dunno, her comment on uncircumsized penises was classic.
I’d vote for Kenny Bania. Aside from “That’s gold, Jerry! Gold!”, he contributes nothing, Jerry. Nothing!
IIRC, Megan Mullally was up for the role, which I can pretty much see.
Without consideration to any real-life relationships, just based on the show, it has to be Elaine. George is the most essential of these three, so he just can’t be cut. He’s probably the funniest, in my opinion, but even if you hate him, he’s essential as Jerry’s best friend and to balancing out the humor. Sure, you could kill off the best friend, but then how do you replace the chemistry of the best friend in the show? Neither Elaine nor Kramer could fill the role, and as it’s vital, you’d have to recast it with someone cheaper, then you have no idea how the chemistry works out and all that and you don’t save as much money anyway, because he’d become a major character, if he worked.
Kramer adds the opposite end of humor from George, and being his neighbor, he’s going to need to be replaced. Now, sure, you could also just cast a new neighbor, and have him just show up for a few episodes or something then more or less disappear as a minor side character. But I think it would really hurt the show because his wacky hijinks often served as a way of kicking of the plot or as a contrast to whatever else was going on.
Yes, Elaine is important for the female perspective, but that doesn’t have to be done by a major core character. After all, one of the recurring themes in the show was generally just how quickly everyone was going through dating someone. Why not just have Jerry or George or Kramer date a woman whose character fits whatever that role is for as long as it’s needed, and then they break up when they need something different. A character like Susan sorta half-filled this role until she was killed off. And, really, she just wasn’t as funny as the others on the show, and to a certain extent, the character didn’t really make a whole lot of sense other than the idea that they needed a female character. So I think she’s the most expendable.
George, the whiniest, although not by much. They all needed a hard slap in the face.
Kramer. Ugly, dirtball, mentally diseased, looks like you could smell his greasy old-man pants across the room.